Last week I began the task of sorting through a relatively
small collection on the history of LUC’s Gannon Center. Although this is a
small collection in comparison to some of the other ones that the archives
have, I was pretty apprehensive about starting to sort through the material.
The archivist is responsible for categorizing the material
and then creating series by combining similar categories. This didn’t seem too
bad; what was scarier was the sense of responsibility around processing a
collection. As the one doing the processing, I’m responsible for deciding what
is important and what can be discarded. This is difficult for me because I
worry that I might overlook something or throw something away.
Although the task
seemed daunting at first, once I started it was actually really fun. I got to
sort through lots of material including pictures and brochures and in doing so
got to see a lot of different forms of history.
One of the best things about handling this collection is
that I get to learn a lot more about Mundelein College which was the last all
women’s Catholic university in Illinois. When Mundelein merged with Loyola in
1991, there was a movement to preserve the heritage and spirit of the
institution by creating a women’s center.
It was interesting because as Loyola students we hear about
this history, but only from the perspective of Loyola’s board and
administrators. What we didn’t hear was that there were a good number of
Mundelein alumni that didn’t want the merge to take place because they felt it
would be a disservice to Mundelein. It’s nice to be able to learn both sides of
this issue.
I got through a good amount of material last week, but I
still have a lot left. I’m excited to learn more about the Gannon Center and
the women who founded it.
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